Car Sale Growth at Its Lowest in 7 Months

Indian Automotive industry has witnessed a decline in the demand for cars during these times of petrol hikes and excise duties. The growth in car sales for the month of May, 2012 has been the lowest in the past 7 months. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) released figures showing that the car sales for the month of May stood at 1, 63,229 units as opposed to 1,58, 809 units in the same month last year.

"This is the slowest growth since October last year when car sales witnessed a decline of 23.77 per cent," SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters. “The softening of interest rates, which was expected to happen has not materialized and continues to be high. Moreover, the high prices of petrol have also affected sales and the overall sentiment in the market is very negative," he added. Another reason for this lull in the automobile market is credited to the increase in vehicle costs and prices due to the hike in excise duty fixed in the Budget. This has even affected diesel cars, which had a lot of demand previously but the demand has now been stemmed.

In the passenger car segment, Maruti Suzuki’s sales dropped down by 5.94 per cent to 72,309 units. However, Hyundai Motors India and Tata Motors managed to up their sales by 3.03 per cent and 6.70 per cent respectively. The sales for commercial vehicles went up by 9.12 per cent to 62,025 units from last years 56,841 units. The sales figures for medium to heavy commercial vehicles showed a decline of 10.58 per cent to 22,227 units during the month compared to last years 24,858 units.

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